By: Marlene Oxender
I was a teenager during the 1970s. A time when smiley faces and peace signs were in style. Tie-dyed shirts. Simon and Garfunkel were on the radio singing about feeling groovy and bridges over troubled water.
According to the Urban Dictionary, the word “groovy” means “cool or awesome.” You were the opposite of “square” if you were groovy.
One of the framed pictures in my parents’ home is a sketch of a gentleman on a park bench feeding birds. I always thought my oldest sister Marcia was the artist, so I felt a bit of disappointment when I found the artist’s initials are “EYG.”
I took the paper out of its frame to see if there were any clues about where this sketch originated from. In the upper-left corner are the words: CABLE ADDRESS “ATOMIZER” TOLEDO. WESTERN UNION CODE. On the right are the words: ATOMIZERS, NEBULIZERS POWDER BLOWERS. In the middle: TOLEDO, OHIO, USA.
Did my parents know the artist whose name started with an “E”? Will I ever know the story behind the drawing?
I found a second unframed sketch of Edgerton’s lamplighter from long ago, and the three initials at the bottom are “AEK.”
My brother Don asked if the initials belonged to Alice Kinzer, a friend of my parents and an Edgerton historian. After a little research, we learned that Alice did have some artistic abilities, and her middle initial was “E.”
The words in Paul Simon’s feeling groovy song from the seventies made me think of both sketches as the lyrics tell us to slow down and not move too fast. He sang about a lamppost and what it may know.
In my mother’s collection of newspaper clippings are numerous essays about Calvin Upp, Edgerton’s lamplighter. Calvin was an uncle of my grandmother, Glatus Upp Kimpel. Mom referred to him as “Cal” Upp.
If Calvin is an uncle to my grandmother, that means he is a great-uncle to my father and a great-great-uncle of mine.
Mom’s writings about Uncle Cal tell us he was employed as a lamplighter back in the days when streetlamps were powered by kerosene.
Mom wrote: “There was Uncle Cal Upp who was the lamplighter in Edgerton. He had a horse drawn cart which he would use to go from lamp to lamp and light every night, and in the morning take them home to fill with kerosene, clean the chimneys and return.”
I was left wondering how long it took Uncle Cal to go around town lighting the lampposts. What was his salary? Who took his place when he couldn’t be there? Could I find a picture of one of the lampposts?
It was more than a hundred years ago when the neighborhood children were playing outside in the summer as Mr. Upp traveled from one lamp to the next. They would have known it was time to head home – for the streetlights were coming on.
In the wintertime, I imagine the peacefulness of a gently falling snow would prompt a fellow to hum a few chords of “Silent Night” as he completed his work. As his horse-drawn cart traveled from one lamp to the next. As he headed home for supper and evening chores.
Calvin was born on December 26, 1861 and was one of nine children – six boys and three girls. With many nieces and nephews, the Upp family tree grew into a big one.
Calvin’s wife’s name was Melvina, a name I can say I’ve never heard before. They became the parents of two daughters, Grayce and Madge.
Calvin’s date of death was November 2, 1957, which means he was nearly 96 years old when he passed away. I’m sure Calvin never imagined he would live to be nearly 100 years old and outlive his daughters.
My mother ended her notes about Uncle Cal by stating we can be modern-day lamplighters through simple acts of service and kindness. She wrote about smiles and kind words.
Someday our names will be way up there on the family tree, and we will be known as an ancestor. My family tree may not be full of big names, but it is full of many who lit the way before me.
Unless we have the radio set to an oldies channel, we won’t be hearing anyone singing about how groovy they’ve been feeling. And it’s a bit difficult to find a cobblestone to kick down these days.
But things like spending quiet time on park benches, feeding birds, and watching flowers growin’ never go out of style. These are simply the moments in which we’re reminded to slow down. Make the morning last. And just feel groovy.
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Marlene Oxender is a writer, speaker, and author. She writes about growing up in the small town of Edgerton, her ten siblings, the memorabilia in her parents’ estate, and her late younger brother, Stevie Kimpel, who was born with Down syndrome. Her two recently published books, Picket Fences and Stevie, are available on Amazon. Marlene can be reached at mpoxender@gmail.com